Robocoin rebrands bitcoin ATMs as 'bank branches'

Bitcoin ATM outfit Robocoin is playing fast and loose with banking terminology by rebranding its machines as bank branches and making a concerted play for the remittance market.

The re-branded Robocoin Bank is re-kitting its bitcoin kiosks to include new features such as cryptographic provable reserves, instant bitcoin-to-cash withdrawals, and P2P money exchange services.

The Las Vegas-based company says it has already installed 35 units around the world, in Japan, Australia, London, Israel, Singapore, Canada and the United States. Thirteen of the machines have the capability to exchange bitcoins for Yen, Australian dollars, pound sterling, Singapore dollars, shekels, Canadian dollars and US dollars. The company says it has a strong pipeline that will ensure fifty more deployments over the next quarter.

As part of the re-branding effort, users will no longer 'buy' or 'sell' bitcoin; instead, they will now make 'withdrawals' and 'deposits' in both the crypto-currency and fiat currency. User accounts are secured using three factors of authentication - phone, PIN, and palm-vein.

By using the new terminology to remove some of the mystique surrounding bitcoin, Robocoin is hoping to tap in to the international remittance market, with users able to send both bitcoin and fiat currency to recipients using any Robocoin 'branch'. After money is sent, recipients will receive an SMS confirming the transaction and can then withdraw the funds at a local machine.